How to backup your website

[Falcon4]

In more understandable words, I'm having the same problem. I have 14gb of data on my site, and I can't do a backup. I never have been able to, either. It's always telling me it's too large, and when I try to download a daily backup, I get "Unexpected end of archive" when the download "finishes". I don't even know what the daily/weekly backups are... changed files?

Any ideas? How can I get a full backup?

[areidmtm]

In more understandable words, I'm having the same problem. I have 14gb of data on my site, and I can't do a backup. I never have been able to, either. It's always telling me it's too large, and when I try to download a daily backup, I get "Unexpected end of archive" when the download "finishes". I don't even know what the daily/weekly backups are... changed files?

Any ideas? How can I get a full backup?

For a larger sites, unfortunately you'll have to do the backup manually with FTP

[Falcon4]

You HAVE to be kidding me. o_O

Well, I'm downloading my delete_files (recycle bin for auto-deleted files) backup now... that's chopping about 2gb off the list. Then I guess I'll get to work downloading the whole site.

I've been trying to look for a TreeSize-like program for FTP, something that can give me a tangible view of the size of the whole structure. My database counts only about 9gb in use, yet cPanel says I'm using 14 GB. I kinda doubt that there's 3gb of thumbnails! I would also like to be able to compare what my FTP client downloaded against what's on my hard drive (size and file-count wise)... does anyone know of a TreeSize for FTP?

Also... what are Daily and Weekly backups? =\

[madness.productions]

How about you gzip what you want to copy to your pc on the server and then download it, it's just as fast as doing big backup, however you can backup what you want to, it's just not as easy to restore and you'll need to backup the databases seperatly.

and I was also told you need ssh access to use the gzip feature on bluehost!

[Bavarian]

For a larger sites, unfortunately you'll have to do the backup manually with FTP

Please elaborate on the FTP backup suggestion.

Will the backup be compressed or are you recommending that we just download a duplicate of the web-site?

I'm new to Blue-Host, but when I tried the backup feature, I was told that my 6.5 gigs were too large to backup. I envision having MUCH more data on the web-site once I complete uploading everything, but I would hate to lose it in a crash.

Will the FTP programs convert the web to either zip or tar.gz format, or will it just duplicate (same size) what I have on-line?

Thanks in advance, Bavarian

[Basil]

Why would you need to back up that much stuff, if you already have a local copy of your website then you only need to back up what's changed since your last backup. No, you aren't going to be able to compress that on the server because that would use a ton of cpu.

Unless you're running a file hosting service there's no reason for your site to be that big anyways.

..or if you're using your website as storage space..

I'll tell you though, I've never lost any data ever in my two years here.

[shahzadmasih]

Hi, this post is very informative; however I would like some specific information. If someone can help me then please send me a private message. Best Regards,

[CincyKISS65]

Hello ... and sorry for the dumb question, but....

Is a Full Backup the same as doing both a Home Directory backup AND an SQL Database backup?

Thanks.

[JohnPlace]

Hey guys,

Quick question.

My understanding is that all the Daily Backups available through CPanel are completely contigent upon BlueHost's regular backups. So, in other words, if you choose to download the daily System Backup, you may or may not be getting that day's backup, depending upon the success and frequency of BH's actual backing up of your site.

I spoke to someone at BH about this, and they agreed. Since I've heard other users complain that BH may not always back up your site every day as indicated, does it really make sense to depend upon the daily backups like this?

Doesn't it make more sense to do your own FULL backup through CPanel instead? My understanding is that the FULL backup actually creates a new, complete back-up on demand instead of relying upon BH's previous backing up of your site.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Another quick question: If I select "System Backup" through cPanel, does that include the entire site, including the DB, file structure, all files, etc?

[JohnPlace]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?